Broken
by AmberHerondale
Summary: Max is shot with a poisonous bullet, and the Flock can't save her alone. Dylan, Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy are forced to go ask "Fang's Gang" for help, resulting in some Dylan/Fang drama. Set between Angel and Nevermore. T for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Max POV**

There is absolutely no better feeling then flying above everything and everyone, I swear. It almost makes it all worth it, except not really. It doesn't quite make up for losing Fang and… and Angel. I swallow, trying not to think of my baby. How could she leave me?

Desperate to get rid of my seriously depressing thoughts, I surge ahead. Naturally, I hear some other wings beating behind me. _Of course, _I think. _It's my personal stalker, Mr. Perfect. _

I spin around, anger twisting through me. I know it's not Dylan's fault about the ones I lost, but, well, if he can't deal with me when I'm mad at the world it's his problem. "Will you stop-" I freeze, because it isn't Dylan behind me. It's the world possibly quietest helicopter, with a gun pointing out. The last thing I can think before a overwhelming pain hits me shoulder is _I'd prefer Dylan. He'd go down easier._

And then I am going down, and a dark shadow drives me unconscious.

**Dylan POV**

I wasn't stalking her, really. I was seriously just glancing up every once in a while from my chess game with Iggy (Dang, he was good). But thank goodness I was because at one point, when Ig almost had checkmate, a creepy looking helicopter came out of NOWHERE and shot her. I'd bet my life on it that it wasn't there a second ago, but it appeared, and Max was going down.

I bolted out of my seat, with Iggy yelling after me. "Max is down," I called back, launching myself into the air. I sped after her, my heart beating twice the speed it normally did. That's saying something, considering I'm, you know, _a mutant hybrid _and all that. I managed to catch up to her just before she hit the ground. I slid my arms under her, gasping from the flight. I was still a newbie, after all.

My mind went blank when I saw Max's face. She was unconscious, and her face had a green twinge around it. _How had this happened?!_ My mind screamed at me. _Max is the ultimate, the best- And she wouldn't be freaking out like this. _I swallowed once, regaining my composure, and lowered her to the ground.

"What," said a voice in my ear, "the heck, Dylan?! What's going on, what happened?"

"Iggy," I said. My voice sounded eerily calm, but perhaps that was just to balance the insanity roaring inside me. "Who's the flock's best healer?"

"Oh, God." Iggy said, sounding horrified. "Max is hurt? Like- really hurt?"

"Who?"

"Fang, definitely." Iggy replied. _Oh, perfect, _I thought. _Fang, the one who left. The one who happens not to be here to help Max. _Iggy then seemed to realize what he'd voiced, and amended it to "Well, maybe Nudge…"

"No," I said in the same weirdly calm tone. "If Fang's the best, we'll just have to get him."

"Will he come?" Iggy nervously. _Oh, sure. Like I know him so well I can predict his every moment._

"Oh, he'll come. For her. He will" _He better._


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Still don't own it. All to James Patterson**

**This should be an interesting chapter. Hope you guys like it.**

**FANG POV**

If these people _ever _stop fighting, I do believe I'll become religious. Ratchet and Star can't agree on ANYTHING, right now they're debating where we head now: NYC or LA. Big city people, what do you know?

Maya finally gives me a look telling me we better step in and break them up before things get ugly. A pang runs through my chest, but it's not that I don't agree. It's just… in that moment she looks so much like Max. _Max…_

I swallow her memory and stand up. "Alright, you two, be quiet. You're getting nothing done."

Ratchet rolls his eyes, but seems to be okay with it. Star is not. "Um, excuse me?" She said, standing up and brushing her blonde hair aside. "Who made you-"

Star's interrupted suddenly by the ringing of my cell, which practically never happens. Star frowns as it. I have no idea what she hopes to accomplice with _that_, but whatever. I glance at it sparingly, than yank it out. Is _Dylan, _of all people, seriously calling me? There is no way I gave him my number. Did Max… ugh.

I grab the phone and hold it up to my ear, ignoring Maya's raised eyebrow. "WHAT ON EARTH," I begin. "ARE YOU DOING CALLING ME?"

"Fang," Iggy's voice rings through the cell. WTH?! The situation is getting crazier by the second. Why is Iggy on Dylan's phone? "For once in your life, will you shut up?"

I do, (shut up that is). Iggy has never spoken to me that way, never. Not even when he was furious about me ignoring his blind-ness.

"Max," Ig's voice breaks then and I freak. And I don't freak, period. But when Max's name is said like that….

"Max what?" Of course, my sort-of-not-really-adopted brother chooses _that _moment not to say annoying. "Iggy! Tell me, now!"

"Fang, she's-well, she could be dying. She was shot, it was poisonous. Dylan's gone to the hospital to see what they can do, and Nudge and Gasman are calling Dr. Martinez. She'll be one her way…"

I feel myself zone out. Max is hurt. Max is shot. Max is… Max is dying.

"Oh, god." I hear myself say. Panic is clear in my voice; for once I do nothing to hide my feelings. I really couldn't care right now. How could I?

"Fang." Iggy's voice returns me to reality. "Look, I know you and Max have been arguing lately. But the two of you were always so close… I think you should come."

"Oh, don't worry there." I stand up, my normally-emotionless face back to the norm- determined. "I already am"

**Maya POV**

I watch as Fang stands up, anger clear as day-when-there-are-no-Erasers-around on his face. He takes a big break, obviously trying to control himself.

"Maya," He says. Naturally, I'm shocked. Fangs keeps to himself when he's mad, it's just the way things are. "We need to go. To Max."

Oh, of course. It's not _me _he's trying to let in when he's angry, it's Max. "Why?" I ask, not really expecting him to be straight with me. He never is.

"She's… injured. I need to be there, but I could use a fellow flyer to guard my back going there."

Star, being Star, rolls her perfectly sky blue eyes. I remember when I first met Max's Dylan, I was so shocked by the resemblance. They weren't related, though, apparently Dylan was lab-made a couple of years ago. "And I suppose we just can't come 'cause, you know, no wings?"

"Exactly." Fang gave her one of his no-humor smiles, and launched himself into the sky.

He looked so beautiful flying that way, but I did my best to ignore his charisma, and I follow the boy I love into the sky.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:*sighs* still don't own it**

**Thank you for the reviews! Plz post more!**

**Nudge POV**

I've never felt more relieved than when Fang landed in the front yard. Max and Fang were always the ones who actually knew what they were doing, and though I'd never admit it to him, having him there made me feel way safer.

Of course, being Fang, he just _had _to bring that Maya creep with him. Max would die… wait no, not thinking that sorta idiom. Well, I think it's an idiom. Maybe that's a metaphor… or a hyperbole? Whatever, it's not like I went to school for more than like a month.

Fang walked toward me- I was on the front porch at the time- with his casual air of "I totally know what I'm doing." He paused on the stairs. He seemed to look at me, but in a way that showed me he didn't really see me. He must be more worried than I thought.

"How is she?" He said.

I hesitated. Where to begin, right? "Um… she could be better."

Fang looked at me for what felt like eternity, and then shoved me aside and strode into the house. That would have been fine if it didn't leave me with that clone. I used to be fine with Maya, but Max never liked her. And right now, I would side with Max over anyone.

She frowned at me, probably upset that Fang just walked out like that on her. Pity on her, except not really. "You're Nudge, right?" I rolled my eyes inwardly. The girl knew perfectly who I was, she would've had to. I mean, she pretended to be Max for God's sake.

I gave her my best sarcastic smile (I learned it from Max). "Yep. And you're that chick who betrayed us and pretended to be Max, right?"

Maya scowled at me. Dang, she looked like Max. It could be difficult to mean to her, if the Max situation hadn't put me in such a terrible mood. "Get over yourself." She said, easily killing- no, _murdering_- any sympathy I had for my sister's clone. "You're acting like- wait, I'm sorry. You are a child."

Like I said, not my favorite person.

**Fang POV**

I almost ran into the building after talking to Nudge. I knew I'd been rude, but she'd forgive me. Max was in danger. Nothing else mattered. When I finally reached her bedroom- obviously hers, no one else had a closed door- I burst in ASAP.

I caught my breath. Max laid there, covers pulled up to her chest. She was in a pretty white tank top, her silky hair was spread out like a fan around her head, and her skin… it was the color of the printer paper.

I just had time to murmur "No…" before I fell to my knees at the side of her bed. "Max," I whispered, barely audible. "Max, no. Don't you dare do this to me. I'm sorry I left, truly I am. Max…" I bowed my head, and gently put my hand on her cold-as-ice chin. "Max, I love you. Don't leave me. I love you."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Yeah, not mine. Well, not the characters or the background or anything.**

**Last chapter was a lot of Fang/Max. This one should be some Max/Fang/Dylan drama, tell me what you think of it.**

**Reviews, please! This is a very… strange chapter. You guys will either love or hate it. Tell me if Dylan/Fang are OCC, I couldn't tell.**

**Fang POV, Later that night**

I rolled over in the bed that Iggy said was now mine. I couldn't sleep at all, couldn't get comfortable, couldn't stop thinking of the girl in the bedroom two doors down: Max Ride. I was practically sick with worry and anger. I hated that Max's predicament was something that I had no power over. The poison was _inside _her, it was nothing I could kill with a knife.

Finally, I got up and changed out of pajamas and started heading outside. No use in wasting time, I might as well use it flying if I wouldn't sleep. Just before I left the ground, though, I saw a blonde head up on the porch. Wait-Iggy?

I flew silently as ever up there only to find the one guy I hoped _not _to see on this little visit. Dylan, of course, no one else would manage to happen to pop up exactly where I didn't want him. I glowered wordlessly at him before clearly my throat loudly.

"Mind explaining why you're out?"

**Dylan POV**

I heard an obnoxious sound behind me; I supposed it must be Fang. I turned around slowly and raised an eyebrow. "Well, well, well," I drawled, affectively annoying him. ""It's Mr. Sunshine himself, who would've thought."

He ignored my sarcasm - Jerk. That was a perfect comment! - and strode toward me. "Look here, Blondie. I really don't give a damn what you think of me. But Max I _do _care about, and I do believe you were supposed to be on duty."

"Nudge talked me into taking over. I thought you'd be pleased, you do hate me. You're always discussing how much better your Flock is."

"Oh, trust me. It is."

"Mm-hm. That's why you ditched it. Why you ditched the girl you now apparently care about. That explains _everything_, Sunshine." The guy gave me a long look.

And then he swung at me. I ducked barely, then straightened up and returned the blow. Fang was about to hit me back, when a young voice filled up the yard.

"DYLAN! FANG!" Gazzy called out. "MAX'S MOM GOT HER AWAKE! MAX IS UP!"

I didn't give Mr. Sunshine another look. I dashed across the yard, forgetting wings. Max was all I could think of. Max, the bravest girl- the bravest _person_- ever to live. Max, the girl who'd still finally fallen. Max, who was awakened, who was back.

**Max POV**

For an awful long time, I was so alone. Darkness was everywhere about me, and I wandered calling out for those I knew and loved. But no one answered.

After a while, I gave in. I sat and I waited for something, for anything, to happen. I was on the edge of despair when I heard the sound of Fang.

Oh my god, it was Fang. He was here too, and though I had no idea how I was so glad just not to be alone.

"Max," He said. He knew I was here!

"Fang!" I called back happily, for once not caring how stupid I sounded.

"Max, no." I frowned. 'No' wasn't a good thing, normally. "Don't you dare do this to me. I'm sorry I left, truly I am. Max..." A heavy pause weighed down then. _What _was going on?

"Max, I love you. Don't leave me. I love you."

_OMG, _was all I could think. That and _He loves me! It's all okay again! He finally said it!_

And then I woke up.


	5. Chapter 5

**R&R! Pleases!**

**Max POV**

I blink slowly. I feel like I'm on a really sick roller coaster; everything around me won't stop spinning. After a few seconds -minutes? Days?- I hear a voice calling mine.

"Max? Max, can you hear me?" My heart starts pounding. It's a young girl's voice. Have I died? Could it possibly be Angel, my Angel?

"Angel? Baby, is I that you?" I try to call out. It sounds more like a whisper. What has _happened _to me?

"No… No, it's Nudge. Are you okay?" I blink again, and finally open my eyes for real. I'm in my room back in Colorado. Nudge leans over me, her chocolate eyes round with worry. Mom sits next to her, looking scared for the first time since I met her, but obviously trying to hide it with a smile. Gazzy's there for a sec, but he jumps up and starts getting the others.

"I'm… fine, I guess. But can I…"

"Yes?" Mom says, apparently excited to do anything to help me.

"Look, I'm sorry, but can I go back to sleep? I'm just so tired."

Mom's smile wavers for a moment, but it quickly forms into that fake grin she's hiding behind as she smoothes back my sheets. "Of course you can, honey."

The last thing I think before fading out is, _That has got to be the first time someone's called me 'honey.'_

_I find myself in a place the color of Dylan's eyes, if not a bit lighter. I frown. It's better than the darkness, but not the peace I'd hoped to find in sleep. _

"_Hello?" I yell. "Anyone home? No? That why on earth am I here?"_

"_But I am home," says a childish voice to my left. I spin to find a young, golden-haired girl with wide blue eyes and a gorgeous-that's right, Max Ride called a dress pretty- spring dress._

"_Angel," I breathe. As it leaves me mouth, I for once fully understand why that name fits her. When you need her to be, she'll be your angel, your savior. _

_She smiles sweetly at me, and it's a little girls smile. I've never seen her so young looking. Not my little warrior. "Max, you've come. I knew you would."_

"_But… Angel, you're _dead."

"_No. I'm not, not yet. I'm still part of this world."_

"_How?"_

_Suddenly the smile drops from her lips. I long to hold her, to tell her it'll all be okay._

_But I shouldn't lie to my angel._

"_They took me. Away, they hurt me. Max, you have to find me. You and Dylan and Fang, you guys can do it. It's your quest."_

_With that she turns and begins to walk away._

"_No!" I call, but she's already gone. "ANGEL! Tell me where you are."_

_Thankfully, she turns and stares into my eyes. But she says no words. With one last haunting look, my angel fades out._

I wake up breathless, sweating like a dog. Not a happy simile, but the truth. "Angel," I say. "Angel, goddamn it, where are you?!"

And then I look up and meet the eyes of Fang. The boy who said he loves me.

"Max," he says. A tiny smile spreads across his face. That's right. Mr. Rock just smiled. "Max."

"Fang," I murmur. "Fang. I-I was in the dark. But you came for me. I heard you." I stare into his eyes, hard. "You said you loved me. Do you?"

**Disclaimer: I do not own Max Ride. But Christmas is coming up!**

**What'd you guys think? **


	6. Chapter 6

**Look, this chapter may be confusing. Sorry, but it has to happen. **

**Disclaimer=not mine.**

**Dylan POV**

"You care for Max, don't you?" Well. I was ever-so-slightly shocked to hear such a straight forward question from Dr. Martinez. Fang, Max, or really any other flock member, yes, definitely. But I always thought of the doctor as more… eloquent.

Though admittedly, I had been kind of obvious.

"Uh… yeah." Guess I can't talk about Dr. M. I'm not exactly the king of eloquence myself. "I mean, yes. I do. Is something wrong?"

She gave a rather sarcastic laugh. "Besides the fact my daughter has been shot with a poisonous. bullet?"

"Look, I'm sorry if I sound rude, but Max _just _woke up. If you don't have anything new to say, I'd like to go please." I wince inside. _Maybe the please helped, _I think desperately. I don't _enjoy_ hurting people.

The doctor sighed. "Yes, Dylan, you are right. I need to tell you something about Max. Just because she's awake does not mean she is healed."

"Explain."

"The poison that hurt Max was… different. It was much like one of Gazzy's bombs, or so; the bullet went in like a normal one. But once it was inside her, it went off. The very thing that is hurting Max is not in her bloodstream. It's in her stomach."

I give her a blank look.

She sighed. Again. "That's about as simple as I can make it. The bad thing cannot be treated normally. It's in her tummy. Get it now?"

See, _that _is how scientists should describe things, with terms like 'bad stuff' and 'tummy.' "So what can be done? She'll be okay, right?" I start to go in to panic mode. Max had better be absolutely 100% fine.

"To heal her, she'll have to go through a unique operation. She will be there for weeks, and I mean bird-kid weeks. The operation will, basically, make her throw it up. But to do so… Look. The poison doesn't seem to register in Max's body as super bad. So we'll have to make it worse."

_Make… it …WORSE? _THIS is crisis-mode. _This almost killed her. To make it worse… _"No," I say, unaware I'm jumping to my feet. "No! Making it worse is the worst thing you could do. You could kill her- your own daughter!"

"To choose not to will certainly kill her."

I feel like I've been hit with one of Max's devil punches. So the options are probably killing her or definitely kill her? Those are not options!

"Dylan… my colleagues and I agree. It is up to Fang and you, as you're the two she trusts the most. She can either die without any pain, or she can have a chance but possibly die hurting. You need to talk to Fang, and Max. You need to decide soon, or it will be too late."

Do I have a choice?

**Fang POV**

Do I have a choice? I can't lie to her, not Max. And anyway, why would I want to?

"Yes," I say, and lean in. "Forever, Max, and always."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: It all begins to James Patterson, obviously**

**I'm so sorry this is late! I could give excuse, but I doubt you people care. Sorry!**

**Fang POV**

I walk over to the den. I've got no idea why Dylan's calling me, but Max's asleep so I've got nothing better to do.

Wait no, scratch that. Most likely anything else would be better, but I have a feeling Blondie's gonna be mad if I blow him off.

I walk into the room- the _empty _room- and sit down. You'd think that if he was going to order me to meet him, he wouldn't be late, but that's Dylan for you.

About a minute and a half later, he steps into the room. I glance him up and down. Grey t-shirt, jean, messy hair. I suppose that's a good thing, if he came to fight he'd probably wear something more protective.

Blondie clears his throat. "Fang," he says.

I raise my hand, calling out "Here!"

He gives me a glare. Well, he should've been clearer if he wasn't calling role. "Look, enough with the sarcasm. This is serious. Max…"

I sit up straight. Especially with what just happened between us, Max is my top priority. "What?" I demand.

His blue eyes find my black ones, and he says quitely "She's dying."

I feel as if he's hit me-hard. "She-no!" I croak. "She's getting better! I swear, she just woke up-"

"Look, Fang, you don't have to convince _me. _But Dr. M talked to me, and she is. They might be able to save her, though, by making it worse. Well, worse enough to make her… barf up the poison inside her."

I take a deep breath. Than another, and another. This _can't _be happening. Max… I can still smell her on me, the way we held each other just a bit ago. I already thought I lost her once in the last 48 hours. I'm not going to let it happen for real. "Alright," I say slowly. "What can we- what can I do? To help, I mean."

Dylan sighs. "Dr. M said for them to go on with the operation, we both have to agree. That we want her to have it."

I cock an eyebrow. "Why on earth wouldn't we?"

"Apparently if it _doesn't _work, Max could be in a lot of pain. Well, actually, it'll probably be that way even if it does."

"Okay, well, whatever. This is Max, she can handle pain. Better than dying, anyway. I say yes, do it."

He nods. "Agreed."

We stand up to leave, and I murmur under my breath, "For once."

_24 hours later_

**Max POV**

_The world is black around, the exact opposite of when Angel came to me. Pain surrounds me, and I call out in a hopeless way. My stomach, it's on fire. I twist in agony. But as I do so, the fire on my abdomen spreads. My world erupts, and I-_

Someone's shaking my shoulders. I burst out of dreamworld to see Fang hovering above me with a worried expression. "You alright, Max?" he asks.

Behind him, Nudge is standing there, biting her nails nervously. For Nudge, beauty obsessor (at least for the Flock's standards), to be biting her nails, things must be bad. Iggy's there as well, but the Gasman must be off annoying nurses. I almost worry- that's only five Flock members accountable- before I remember about Angel.

It's so weird to see the Flock at a hospital. Besides the whole shebang with "Nick", aka Fang, being gravely hurt, we've never gone to hospitals. We don't fit in with the clean walls and constructed rules and _doctors._

But sometimes we have no choice.

Fang's still waiting for an answer, and I can't make things worse, so I say "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

Iggy comes around the bed and sits down. How he manages not to trip on the millions of cords is a mystery to me. I couldn't, coming in, and I'm not even blind.

"Um, because you've been barfing up your guts for the last ten hours?" He asks.

I groan, and roll over. My stomach churns, and I know that was a mistake. "Don't even go there. I really don't want to remember."

Dylan chooses that moment to walk into the hospital room. It's funny the effect he has on us. Fang instantly tightens up, and a crease appears between Iggy's eyes. Nudge, on the other hand, seems to relax. Me, well, I don't really know how to act around him anymore. Not now that Fang and I are- I snort inwardly at that thought line. My Dylan confusion has existed long before Fang and I made up.

Dylan walks up, puts his hands on the railing at the end of the bed, and leans forwards. "Are you feeling good?" he asks, ever concerned.

Funnily enough, considering he asked pretty much the same thing, Fang says, "Obviously not. She's in the fricking hospital, Blondie." _Blondie, _I think, amused despite myself.

Dylan tenses up, and replies without looking at him. "I was just making sure things hadn't gotten worse, Sunshine."

Nudge giggles, which is exactly what I'm trying not to do. "You two have bromance names now?" She says, though it's hard to understand her through her laughter.

Both guys' heads swivel towards her, and they both shake their heads slowly. They both _also _stop shaking their heads when they realize the other one is. God, they are alike. I wonder if they'll ever admit it.

It's then my stomach begins to lurch again, and I double over in pain.

I suppose good things can only last so long.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer- I own none**

**I've been wondering about how the other Flock member's felt about Max/Dylan/Fang, which inspired this.**

**Nudge POV**

It's so messed up seeing Max so hurt. I mean, normally she's Miss Strong, but now… I don't know. It's like her spirit is hidden, and only comes out every once in a while. Honestly, I think it's because of Fang.

Don't get me wrong. Fang's my brother as much as Gazzy and Iggy, and I _do _love him. I just don't think he's the best thing for Max. Whenever he's around, she gets nervous and hurt and stuff, all very un-Max like. With Dylan, she's relaxed and fun.

See the difference?

Also, I feel for Dylan. Max is, like, completely messing with his feelings. When Fang is gone, she's all nice and flirty. When he's here, she practically shuns the guy. Obviously, she doesn't do it on purpose. I doubt she even knows she does it. She isn't the type to be mean for fun or whatever.

I know it's none of my business, but I can't help thinking a ton about it. Finally, I just can't deal with it. Knowing fully I shouldn't, I go to talk to Max about her least favorite thing, her love life.

A few minutes later, I'm knocking softly on her hospital door. "Max?" I say. "Are you awake?"

"Nudge?" She sounds full of energy. "Is everything okay? Everyone alright?"

"Everything's fine. I just wanted to talk to you."

"Well, come in." I push open the door to see Max sitting up in that ugly hospital gown. She raises an eyebrow at me in that Max-way of hers. "Is this the kind of conversation that has to be at night?"

I smile, but my hearts not really in it. I perch on the edge of her bed. "I know it's not really my place…"

Now her eyebrows scrunch together. "What's up?"

"It's about Dylan," I blurt out. "And Fang."

She sighs loudly and falls back on her bed. "Oh, God. Nudge, I-"

"I'm not gonna tell you what to do. " I say quickly. "I just- I feel like Dylan would honestly be better for you."

She still doesn't look at me, but asks, "And why is that?"

"Well," I plunge into my/Dylan's case, "You're happier around him. You smile more. You can't deny you are drawn to him. He's not at all a brother to you- c'mon, sometimes you've still gotta think of Fang like that. He's fun, he's funny, he's hot, and he's sweet. He'd do anything for you; it's obvious when he looks at you. He helps you when you're mad, or sad. And, he's the only one who's never left you. I mean, even _I _did. He's so loyal."

Max sits up, and pulls her legs up to her chest. "Oh, Nudge… I… I don't know what to say. It's obvious you've thought about this a lot."

"What do you think?"

She groans, and slams her forehead into her knees. _Ouch, _I think. _That's gotta hurt. _"I don't know! At all. What should I do?"

I stand up. "I can't decide for you. This is something you have to do yourself."

I walk quietly out of the room, and close the door softly.

**Max POV**

I'm lying on my bed when another knock sounds on the door. _Oh, perfect. _"What, Nudge?"

"It's not Nudge. It's me." Iggy pushes the door open and walks in silently as ever.

I sit up-again. Why don't people have reasonable times? Midnight doesn't count. I mean, c'mon, can't we have these heart-to-hearts in like the afternoon?

"What's up? Oh, wait me. Why am I up?" Okay, perhaps that came out a bit drunk, but whatever.

He ignores me, anyways. "Nudge told me what she was talking about with you."  
I raise my eyebrows. "She just walked into your room in the middle of the night and was like 'Oh, BTW, I was talking about Max's personal life.'?"

"No. I was in the halls, and I asked her why she was."

I don't bother asking Iggy why he was up. I have nightmares too. "So let me guess: you have input on my love life as well?"

He sighed. "Well, sorta. Yes, actually."

I throw my hands up in the air. "What happened to personal lives being _personal_?"

"I don't like Dylan."

"It's okay, Iggy, I won't make you go out with him."

He glares at me. It is dark, but I can feel it. "Yeah, but you know Fang better. You trust him. He's one of us. Whenever he's in the room, you get all flustered."

"If I do recall, you kicked me out of the flock for loving him."

"Whatever. It isn't my decision who you love."

"Then why are you here?"

He takes a long breathe, and lets it out even slower. "Max."

I smirk- and hit him with a pillow. "Now out. You don't see me interfering with Ella and you, do you?"

He stands up. "Fine, I get the point. I'll get out. But think about what I said, okay?"

"That I shouldn't care if you kick me out?"

He groans, and leaves. I lie back down, but damn those two, because now I can't think of anything but Fang and Dylan, Dylan and Fang.

Arg. Does it make me a jerk to love two guys at once? They're both so awesome. I know Fang so well, and Dylan is so easy to be around. I hate it. I don't care if its mean, I want one of them to be mean or something. I have no trouble saying "no" to jerks, but "no" to sweet awesome guys who love me?

I get up and get dressed. It's clear my siblings just ruined any chance of sleep. I get up and head outside my window, not caring about health stuff. I'm a bird kid, get over it. I'm meant to fly.

I leap out, and in the distance I see a profile, a _guy's_ profile. With wings. I take off.


End file.
